


Mind Like A Steel Trap

by shorstak



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Professors, F/F, profess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:54:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27856297
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shorstak/pseuds/shorstak
Summary: Lin is the head of the criminology department and takes her job very seriously, but when she meets Kya, a care free herbalist who landed a job at Republic City University, things start to change for the stoic professor.
Relationships: Korra/Asami Sato, Lin Beifong/Kya II
Comments: 3
Kudos: 43





	Mind Like A Steel Trap

**Author's Note:**

> Alternate Universe in Modern times where Kya and Lin are Professors at an esteemed University. Was originally for Kyalin week but ended up being late :o

“Alright everybody, don’t forget to read chapters 4 and 5 for next class. There will be a quiz!” Lin barked out as her students filed out of her classroom.   
She sat on the edge of her desk and watched as the students, who previously filled her lecture, all funneled through the exit. Once the last student had left she hopped off her desk and began erasing her criminology lecture off of the dusty chalkboard. She exhaled and a puff of white chalk dust appeared clouding her vision. She quickly swatted it away causing it to dissipate and sat the eraser down on her desk. After today’s class she was worried, midterms were coming up soon and her class was seemingly nowhere near prepared for such an intense exam. She sat down and jotted down some concepts to review for the next class on a plain yellow post-it and stuck it to her laptop. She took a sip from her mug and relished in the black brewed coffee for a moment before she stood up, put her laptop in her bag and left her classroom. Today she had a big meeting with all of the Republic City University department heads to discuss midterms and she was not looking forward to it. These meetings happened about three times a semester and it seemed to Lin as they only got worse the more she went to.  
She left her class room and headed to Aang memorial hall, where the meeting was taking place. It didn’t start for another 25 minutes, but Lin’s motto is “To arrive early is to be on time and to arrive on time is to be late and to arrive late is better to not show up at all,”. She entered the building and swiftly went to the room. In front of her was a long table with empty office chairs lined up on either side and the dean’s chair on the end. She was the first one there. She took her seat in the middle of the right side and pulled her laptop out. She started to answer emails and cursed herself for not checking her inbox earlier because it was full to the brim with menial questions.   
As she fielded her students' questions the seats around her filled up, she looked down at her watch and it was 1:59 and the meeting was to start in a minute. She exited her email and pulled up her document to take notes. When she looked up the Dean was setting up his power point and she realized the seat to her right had not been filled yet. Then the door swung open and a whirlpool of a woman entered the room, whom Lin had never seen before.   
She was fairly tall with warm brown skin and bright blue eyes. Her silver hair was half haphazardly tossed into a half up half down style and very unruly. Her dress was bright blue with an intricate pattern and by no means professional dress. She was carrying a large stack of papers that were slipping from her hands and her leather laptop bag was overflowing with even more papers. Lin saw as the woman scanned the room and saw the only open chair next to her. Lin sighed. She hated disorganized people and didn’t want her to be a distraction during the meeting. The woman rushed over and sat next to Lin. She dropped all of her papers onto the table and they went every which way. Lin gathered the papers that landed in her space into a neat stack and placed them in the woman’s area.   
“Thank you...uh,” the woman peered at Lin’s name tag, “Professor Beifong. Sorry I’m such a mess I dropped all my students lab reports on my way over here.” Her voice was very welcoming and smooth.   
“The meeting is about to start, you should tidy up to take notes.” Lin said before diverting her attention to the Dean who was about to start speaking.   
“Oh, you actually take notes? I just grade papers while I’m here.” The woman said laughing.   
“Well that’s the reason I’m here: to listen.” Lin said, rolling her eyes. “Now shh the dean is going to speak.”   
The woman rolled her eyes back at Lin and pulled out an art box full of highlighters and pens. She began going through all the papers she brought with her and sorting them into piles as the dean started roll.   
“Professor Xing from the business department?” The dean said while looking at a clipboard ready to mark attendance.   
“Present.” The man across from Lin stated without looking up from his laptop.   
Lin looked over at the woman sitting next to her and watched intently as she started highlighting sections of papers. Her tongue sticking out in focus as she read.   
“Professor Beifong from the criminology department?” The dean called. “Professor Beifong?” He said this time looking up.   
“Present, Sir.” Lin said, embarrassed she hadn't been paying attention. She turned her attention to her laptop screen that had powered off from lack of use and she logged back in.   
“Professor Kya from the herbalism department?”   
The woman next to her snapped out of her focus and lifted her head up. “Huh? What?” She said and then realized he was taking attendance. “Oh, I’m here.” She then tilted her head back down and continued to read papers.   
The dean finished attendance and began talking about the average grades for the quarter.   
“As you can see the growth from last fall here on the graph…”   
Lin couldn’t focus and kept watching the woman, Kya, next to her. There was something about her Lin found interesting. Maybe it was the deep smell of incense exuding from her or maybe it was how she was tapping her foot next to Lin’s. Either way Lin couldn’t stop watching her. Kya then capped the highlighter she was using and pulled out a hot pink one and put the cap in her mouth to unsheath the marker. She quickly highlighted something on the paper and then put the cap back on and tossed the marker lightly into the box. Kya looked over at Lin and she swiftly looked away and averted her attention towards the dean. Out of the corner of her eye Lin could see Kya smile at her, but she avoided making eye contact and honed in on the presentation. Kya went back to grading intently.   
Once the meeting had concluded Lin waited for the people to clear out some before approaching the dean with a question about her department’s budget. The dean answered her question and continued packing up his presentation. Lin turned around and the table was empty except for Kya still grading papers. Lin wasn’t sure if she had realized the meeting was over so she went up to her and tapped her shoulder.   
“Hey, the meeting is over,” Lin said.   
Kya dropped her highlighter startled, “Oh it's over. Thank you for telling me,” She smiled at Lin again “ Who knows how long I would have sat there without realizing.” She laughed and started to put all her papers into one pile. Lin grabbed her laptop, slid it into her laptop bag from next to her chair and left to go back to her classroom to prepare for her next class.  
Once she got there she started drawing diagrams on the board in chalk over the average criminal’s psyche. She had access to all sorts of technology but felt as though her students learned better when she wrote it by hand. She finished her lecture and sat down at her desk. That was her last class of the day so she pulled out her laptop again and as she did she noticed something bright in the bottom of her bag. She reached her hand down and pulled out a highlighter.   
“Damn this must be Kya’s.” Lin said to herself. She thought about keeping it or tossing it away, but the highlighter was nice and her good moral upbringing kept her from doing so. She cursed herself as she took the long walk across campus to the herbalism department. She looked at the map on the wall when she entered and found her way to Kya’s office. She knocked on the door and from the other side Kya spoke.   
“Come on in!” She yelled through the door.   
Lin opened the door and Kya swiveled around in her chair.   
“Oh! Professor Beifong, what brings you to my neck of the woods? Couldn’t get enough of me from the meeting?” She said with a sultry tone in her voice.   
Lin felt her cheeks get warm. “No, I, uh… You dropped your highlighter in my bag and I came to return it.”   
“Are you sure this isn’t just a clever ruse to come and see me?” Kya said, raising her eyebrows before laughing. She took the highlighter from Lin’s open hand and tossed it into a drawer. “Would you like to get some coffee? My treat for returning such a prized possession.”   
Lin thought for a moment, coffee did sound nice, but she wasn’t sure if Kya was someone whose company she would enjoy. “That won’t be necessary, however, thank you for the offer. Don’t go dropping your things again.”   
“Well, thank you for bringing it back to me. What’s your name again?” Kya asked.   
“Lin Beifong.” Lin said, holding out her hand.   
Kya shook her hand. “Nice to meet you by the way,” Lin turned to leave. “I hope to see you again. Maybe I’ll convince you to go get coffee with me one of these days.” Kya laughed as Lin exited her office.   
Lin started to make the trek back to her classroom, but for some reason she couldn’t get Kya off her mind. She wrote it off as soon as she got back and finished answering emails and prepping for the next day of class. She grabbed all of her belongings including her laptop, coffee mug, and her keys and headed out to her car, which was parked in the middle of campus. She made her way to the parking lot and low and behold there was Kya walking towards the same lot.   
Kya raised her arm to wave at Lin once she noticed her and in doing so let go of all the papers she was holding. Lin quickly walked over to her and helped her pick them .   
“Do you drop things a lot?” Lin asked somewhat disgruntled.   
“I guess so” She shrugged. “I’ve never been a college professor before, just an herbal specialist, so I never really had to carry papers with me before”   
“How did you become department head?” Lin asked, handing her back her papers.  
“I was surprised when they called and asked me to be the head of the department once the old head had passed, but I’ve always wanted to teach so I said yes.” She stood up and dusted off her dress. “Thank you for helping me out so much today,” she laughed. “I’m not sure if I’d have all my papers if it wasn’t for you.”  
“It's no problem,” Lin said, standing as well.   
“Are you sure I can’t take you out to coffee to repay you?” Kya asked.   
“You don’t have to buy me anything to repay me, it’s just some papers,” Lin said.   
“And my highlighter,” Kya chimed. “My students recommended a tea and coffee shop downtown that I haven’t had a chance to try. It’s called the Jasmine Dragon.”   
“I love the Jasmine Dragon, they have the best lavender milk tea-“ Lin started.   
“Then it’s settled we’re going to get lavender milk tea right now, hop in Professor Beifong!” Kya exclaimed as she got into the light blue sedan next to her.  
Lin stood there and blinked.  
“You coming?” Kya asked through the window of her car.   
“Uh, I’m not sure,” Lin dismissed the idea once she thought of how badly she actually wanted a milk tea now, “actually, yes I am.” Lin said and she got into the passenger seat of Kya’s car.


End file.
